“The video truly is amazing. There is so much in here. From the “bitter clinger” type of language about uneducated middle class whites who love their guns, to the silence and nodding agreement when the supposed donors bash Israel and Jewish control of the media.

Truly amazing. The left colluding with the Islamists, on film. But that’s just a wild conspiracy theory, right?”

What struck us the most was the section wherein Ron Schiller talks about Muslims needing a voice and making the comparison with women’s voices. Says Schiller “It’s the same thing we faced as a nation when we didn’t have female voices.” It’s an insulting and insensitive comparison. It’s an insulting comparison especially when we see how women are treated in Islamic theocracies, many Islamic “secular” governments, and even post-celestial choirs enlightened revolutionary Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt.

This is what happened yesterday in Egypt on the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day (especially shocking in that the very good intelligent reporting comes from sexist/misogynist NBC):

Kudos to Abel Amal Hadi ((sp?) 51 seconds into the video) who not only has her hair flowing freely, demands equality for women – and also “No discrimination on any basis. Not on gender issues, not on religious issues.” She’s our kind of Muslim (assuming she is a Muslim). Hillary Clinton who speaks out forcefully on behalf of women appears in the video. And hooray for Mona Prince of Cairo who lets her hair free as well as her mouth “What’s wrong with Egyptian men? It is not acceptable that because I am wearing a dress or a mini-skirt or tight jeans that you give yourselves the right to touch or slap or say bad words to women.”

In Egypt there is Sharia Law and “women have very little to stand on.” Yesterday, “men told women it was unIslamic for a woman to have equal rights. But women fought back, quoting chapter and verse of the Quran.” That fight must be fought by Muslim against Muslim and we need to back those who fight for modernity and the rights of men and women and not be fooled by fake “moderates” in the same way we Democrats have witnessed the distinction between real FDR progressives versus the Obama loving Big Blog Boy PINOs.

“We fought side by side with men during the revolution, and now we’re not represented,” said Passat Rabie, a young woman who came with friends, after men aggressively dispersed the protest. “I thought Egypt was improving, that it was becoming a better country. If it’s changing in a way that’s going to exclude women, then what’s the point? Where’s the democracy?” [snip]

‘Go wash clothes! This is against Islam!’

The demonstrators, who gathered in Tahrir Square – the epicenter of the revolution – had much to complain about: The military council ruling the country until new elections are held failed to appoint a single woman to the committee tasked with drafting constitutional amendments. One of the proposed constitutional amendments implies that the office of presidency is limited to men by saying that a president cannot be married to a non-Egyptian woman. And the only woman in Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s new government is from Mubarak’s government.

But almost immediately, they were outnumbered and beset upon by men who gathered. Some of the men were from the protesters’ encampment in the middle of the square.

Dozens of women engaged in arguments with the men, who said that women had enough rights already; that now was not the time to demand inclusion; or that Islam does not allow a woman to become president. Some of the men were polite; many were aggressive. Soon, a large group gathered in front of the protest, shouting it down with insults. A sheikh from Al Azhar was hoisted on mens’ shoulders, chanting against the women.

“Go home, go wash clothes,” yelled some of the men. “You are not married; go find a husband.” Others said, “This is against Islam.” To the men demonstrating with the women, they yelled “Shame on you!”

Suddenly, the men decided the women had been there long enough. Yelling, they rushed aggressively upon the protest, pushing violently through the rows of women. The women scattered. Eyewitnesses said they saw three women being chased by the crowd. A surge of men followed them, and Army officers fired shots into the air to make the men retreat.

The men took over the raised platform where the women had held their demonstration, as many of the women trembled in rage. During the melee, one of the attacking men groped Fatima Mansour, a college student who wore purple for International Women’s Day and argued eloquently with a man who said it was unIslamic for a woman to become president, quoting the Quran back at him. [snip]

She whirled and slapped him, before her colleagues held her back to keep her from getting hurt, she said. Before the attack, she had been optimistic. “We believe that we have a right to rebuild Egypt,” she said. “Women’s participation during the revolution was remarkable. We can’t ignore this and deny us a role.”

Her friend Shaza Abdel Lateef chimed in. “They can’t just send us home after the revolution,” she said. One of the criticisms they faced over and over again was that now was not the time for women to demand their rights. Ms. Lateef rejects that. “We say no, we are half the population. If we stay silent, we will continue to experience all the discrimination of the past.”

It sounds like an Obama rally or how Democrats at the Denver convention treated Hillary Clinton supporters.

“People were saying that women were dividing the revolution and should be happy with the rights they have,” said Ebony Coletu, 36, an American who teaches at American University in Cairo and attended the march, as she put it, “in solidarity.” [snip]

“I was grabbed in the crotch area at least six times. I was grabbed in the breasts; my throat was grabbed,” Coletu said.”

“A man tried to rule us and failed—will we let a woman?” a middle-aged man yelled at the crowd of Egyptian women holding banners in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. The men around him burst out laughing. [snip]

Magdy Abdel-Fattah, a 35-year-old researcher, had come to show his support. “Is there any difference, besides sex, between men and women, as human beings?” he asked Hassan and his friends. “The revolution can’t search for social justice and democracy without acknowledging that men and women are equal,” Abdel-Fattah argued. “The former government made it a policy to discriminate between men and women.”

“Speaking at U.N. headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recalled that 100 years ago “gender equality was a largely radical idea.”

While progress since then should be celebrated, he said, “We must also remember that — in too many countries and in too many societies — women remain second-class citizens, denied their fundamental rights, deprived of legitimate opportunity.” [snip]

In troubled Ivory Coast, thousands of women defiantly marched to the bloodstained street where seven female demonstrators armed only with tree branches symbolizing peace were brutally killed last week by soldiers in armored personnel carriers who opened fire.

The women had tried to march every day since Thursday’s attack but lost their nerve in the face of an army loyal to strongman Laurent Gbagbo who has refused to relinquish the presidency to the internationally recognized winner of the November election, Alessane Ouattara. [snip]

In Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, the president’s wife, Olive Kabila, joined the march against rape, which has long been used as a weapon of war in the country. At least 8,300 rapes were reported in 2009 but aid workers say the true toll is much higher.

In Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, and the Adriatic port of Rijeka, protesters marking International Women’s Day demanded jobs and called for the government to resign. In Manila, demonstrators demanded justice for “comfort women” forced into prostitution in World War II, and in Gaza, hundreds of Palestinian women called for an end to the rift between Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah, which controls the West Bank.

At an all-star gathering of women in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said women must be included in any process of democratic reform in the Middle East.

“In the coming months and years, the women in Egypt and Tunisia and other nations have just as much right as the men to remake their governments — to make them responsive, accountable, transparent,” she told the audience that included First Lady Michelle Obama and the female president of Kyrgyzstan and prime minister of Australia. [snip]

Despite some high-profile advances, Bachelet said, only 28 women are heads of state or government and just 8 percent are peace negotiators. Last week, the Inter-Parliamentary reported that while the number of women in legislatures reached an all-time high of 19.1 percent in 2010, “the target of gender balance in politics is still a distant one.”

“An ABC pilot called “Good Christian Bitches” has religious and women’s groups up in arms over what they describe as an extremely offensive and distasteful show title. [snip]

Christian publisher Tessie DeVore told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column that the show, which features the tagline “For Heaven’s sake, don’t let God get in the way of a good story!” could put Christians in an unfairly bad light.

“I find the title offensive. I don’t think those two words should be combined,” she said. “A show like this can damage perceptions [of Christians in this country].”

It also could be a slippery slope for future shows, said Melissa Henson, director of communications and public education for the Parents’ Television Council tells Tarts.

“In the past, we’ve raised concerns about changing language standards for television,” Henson said. “Once a particular profanity or obscenity has been embraced by a particular show, it quickly becomes mainstream.”

And Yana Walton from the Women’s Media Center said Christians aren’t the only ones who should be upset.

“It is not an appropriate term to use to describe any woman, regardless of their faith,” Walton said. “Entertainment media, especially music and films, have been normalizing misogynistic language for years.”

But despite the seemingly outrageous title, Dan Gainor, head of the Culture and Media Institute, is not surprised that the pilot has gone this far already.

“ABC is doubling down on the offensive by also approving ‘Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23,’ following up on the CBS show ‘$#*! My Dad Says.’”

Let’s have a show called “Good Muslim Bitches”. Let’s have a show called “Good Black Bitches”. Imagine the uproar.

hooray for the women in Egypt and everywhere who are fighting for the simple right to be included on equal footing with the men.

The Today Show was discussing the new abc series with b*tch in the title (we heard it here first in our comment section) and after expressing some shock at the use of the word, someone (it may have been Matt Lauer) said well think about abc having to fight against the cable channels, so they had to get outrageous too. It’s all about the ratings, not about human dignity.

“The O’Keefe NPR video was chock full of hate and as Juan Williams said “These people are so rude and condescending… these people are destroying NPR.”

the people on NPR have been sickeningly partial to Obama since his election and I’m not defending their views (it’s time that element on NPR was gone), but I understand why they were. When Bush was in office, he appointed a rightwing neocon as head of NPR and they cracked down on NPR which was moderate and impartial at the time. Time after time I’d be in my car with NPR on the radio listening to the neocon propaganda being spewed over the NPR airwaves. On our local channel, the long time radio personalities had to have show after show on right wing agenda topics. When they finally got rid of that guy, the went way too far to the left.

The dems in Wisc. said from the very beginning that they were going to lose this fight because they did not have the numbers to block it, so this is no surprise. The dems explained that their stalling tactic was to expose the repub agenda to the people and keep them from passing this so fast that thier agenda would not be exposed to the light of day. Well, it’s been massively exposed to the light of day. The american way.

Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) said they would be back by Thursday. They had been able to block a vote on the bill for three weeks because 20 senators had to be present to vote for it. Republicans control the house 19-14.

Damn it all to Holy Hell and back……….those #@$# Republicans are going to burn in Hell for this.

I am only reading the link of Admins first link and already so darn pist I am ready to spit.

==========

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted Wednesday night to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers after discovering a way to bypass the chamber’s missing Democrats.

[snip]

The lone Democrat present on the conference committee, Rep. Peter Barca, shouted that the surprise meeting was a violation of the state’s open meetings law but Republicans voted over his objections. The Senate convened within minutes and passed the measure without discussion or debate.

Before the sudden votes, Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch said if Republicans “chose to ram this bill through in this fashion, it will be to their political peril. They’re changing the rules. They will inflame a very frustrated public.”
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Back to reading…

The demonstrators, who gathered in Tahrir Square – the epicenter of the revolution – had much to complain about: The military council ruling the country until new elections are held failed to appoint a single woman to the committee tasked with drafting constitutional amendments. One of the proposed constitutional amendments implies that the office of presidency is limited to men by saying that a president cannot be married to a non-Egyptian woman. And the only woman in Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s new government is from Mubarak’s government.

—————-
Too bad for the women in Egypt and the ME, WE here in America can’t get a woman into the White House either, no matter who they are freakin’ married to.

————

Hannity is now talking with the loud mouth about WI and I am getting even more pist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Andrew Brietbart, consevative activist, is actually on CNN now saying that NPR is the best place to get accurate information on the news and it’s where he goes when he wants to know what the left thinks about an issue. He also said that we have to end the false ‘objectivity’ in the news and things like the NPR sting and other partisan tricks will be the norm in the future. Welcome to the brave new world.

Women all over the world need to stand up for each other. For those in the U.S. government who throw knives at Hillary, diss International Womens Day by saying…gee its a nice idea but we might not be able to help women and their daughters who are abused, denied human rights…et al…well it takes women to save the world! It takes women to correct the mistakes you men have made over and over. And maybe just maybe if you leaders quit bankrupting the world and supporting the majority of your ugly counterparts in the Muslim world, this world would be a better place. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

oh I also almost forget MEeee-Chelle Antoinette’s brother saying about Hillary after the NH primaries, where Hillary got emotional, how if he would be embarassed to be a woman after seeing Hillary, or something like that, I forget the exact quote, but it was disgusting.

Sometimes there are times when I just wonder what people were thinking. A student at Chapfield Elementary School in Ohio was humiliated when his teacher decided to divide the class into “slaves” and “masters” in a mock slave auction. There were two African-American students in the class; one was a “master” and the other, 10-year-old Nikko Burton, was a “slave.”

Nikko’s mother, Aneka Burton, says that he “felt degraded” by the experience, and understandably so. “At first, I didn’t care,” he said. “But after people were bidding on people, it kind of made me a little mad and stuff.” According to an article by Paul Aker in the Columbus Dispatch, he felt even more frustrated and angry when the students playing “masters” were instructed to feel the “slaves'” muscles. The exercise quickly morphed from misguided to horrible when, Ms. Burton explained, “They looked in their mouth to see who had stronger teeth. And whoever was the strongest that’s who they sold first.”

When Nikko complained about being “sold,” he was told to return to his desk.

According to a spokesperson for the school district, the activity was intended to teach students about cultural diversity and U.S. history, and administrators apologized to Nikko and his mother. The teacher, however, has yet to apologize, and Ms. Burton is absolutely right when she says that this raises troubling questions about the teacher’s ability to understand the history lesson that he or she was imparting to the children.

“They should research – they should be educated about black history,” she said. “That was inappropriate.”

It’s understandably difficult to make 5th-graders understand just what slavery meant, and elementary school teachers often use interactive activities to make history “come alive.” But reenacting slave auctions, one of the most odious moments in our country’s history using schoolchildren has got to be one of the most disturbing instances of classroom creativity yet. This teacher needs to apologize, pronto, and all schools need to make sure that such incidents aren’t repeated.

I hope people in there realise this is a terrible situation that can easily get out of hand and people will then get hurt, especially with that many people all enclosed together like that and keeping the police out.

One of the criticisms they faced over and over again was that now was not the time for women to demand their rights. Ms. Lateef rejects that. “We say no, we are half the population. If we stay silent, we will continue to experience all the discrimination of the past.”

It sounds like an Obama rally or how Democrats at the Denver convention treated Hillary Clinton supporters.

It also sounds like right now, here. A couple of days ago, when Hillary made a speech about how women’s rights in other countries are integral to the peaceful development (evolution)of those countries, and to our own national security, one that very same day an “unnamed” administration official referred to women’s rights as “special interests” and “pet rocks that are weighing down the rucksack” – they have too many important things to do than to worry about the pet rock of women’s equality. Pigs.

WISCONSIN: Meade on the scene at the Capitol says hundreds of protesters have gotten into the building, and security is vastly outnumbered.

UPDATE: Protesters are locking the Capitol doors shut from the inside using metal handcuffs, Meade reports from the scene. Plus this: “Meade called back to say, some of the doors are handcuffed shut and some are wide open. ‘ANYBODY CAN GET IN AND ANYBODY CAN BRING ANYTHING IN. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO SECURITY WHATEVER.’”

And, from the comments: “They intend to physically keep the legislature from assembling tomorrow to vote. Mob rule… ”

Also: “I guess that this means the new civility bullshit is officially over?”

And, noting the DNC’s involvement in these protests: “Barack Obama paid for, organized, and is putting on this riot.”

MORE: Michael Moore: “This Is War.” Yeah, I guess the “new civility bullshit” is officially over. Bear that in mind as you contemplate a response. I don’t think these people realize that they are setting precedents that they may come to regret. They are as feckless in this behavior as they are in their fiscal approach. The consequences are likely to be insalubrious.

Tim – I don’t know if “bros before hos” was a song, but I “do not care” for rap (I’m being very “civil” there lol), so I wouldn’t know. But at one of the rallies, BO played a rap song, a lovely tune, called “I’ve got 99 problems but a b*tch ain’t (sic) one”.

They were/are SUCH race baiters and misogynists. And to top it off, I’ll bet they were even clueless about that fact. They’re not for civil rights. They were just for black rights, even the white ones. Women? ppfffttt! We’re not really even human, you know?

admin, if you could please embed this youtube, this young man is one of the people who played the rich muslim donor in the NPR sting. Its a pretty amazing interview, where he questions the media in America and elistists who control and narrate it.

lately a lot of talk and spin about O regaining his strength and power and re-election chances…not buying it…so much spin…first of all it will still depend on the electoral college…and this time around I don’t think O can count on Florida…unlikely…others have mentioned that he is not safe in Ohio…if he loses those two, his chances begin to shrink…and there are other states that are shaky…
(note to JBStones…did you notice he is plummeting on realclearpolitics again…almost in the minus again…)

…also…regarding the possible ‘insider’ scandal talk that could bring him down…just like the repubs are not jumping right into the race, but rather, waiting for a more strategic time…perhaps if Issa, or others, have some incriminating info on O…they are also holding back and waiting for better timing…

…why use all they have got now and give O a chance to recoup…let him stew…and go after him in the heat of the re-election campaign…

…and last thing…just how tone deaf is O…have you ever seen anyone more in your face with doing what he wants to do and screw everyone else…another basketball party at the WH…the man and his wife are shameless…

But at one of the rallies, BO played a rap song, a lovely tune, called “I’ve got 99 problems but a b*tch ain’t (sic) one”.

=============

Iirc the song was on a tape playing as background music in a private home at a private celebration party that Obama attended. Obama had nothing to do with it. This was all hashed out on TM at the time (way before she went nuts).

The Livestream is still going on. The police are beginning to clear out the capital now that the hearing Assembly Dimocrats were holding has ended. The protesters started chanting “Hell no, we won’t go.” What’s next?

For a third survey in a row, Sarah Palin tops the Hot Air charts, garnering 34% of the readership’s vote. Palin leads a pack consisting of Chris Christie (who for a third survey came in second) at 14%, Herman Cain at 9%, Tim Pawlenty at 7%, and Mitt Romney. Notably, Romney has finished fifth in every survey, and in every survey regardless of sample size, has received 6% of the vote.

I can’t begin to tell ya how many protests I’ve been in. I was in high school when I protested against the Viet Nam war.
I protested for years to make the war end and bring home our troops before they were all dead.

I work in an environment that has had protests for years.

I protested against the destruction of public education and against Meg Whitman’s plan to do in CA what Walker is doing now.

I protested in Denver against what the DNC had done and was doing to not let there be a vote on the floor.

I protested with the Tea Party folks with Hillary gear on.

What’s next in WI?
Bigger protests from union members that are not effected by the vote. Possibly a major strike to show solidarity. That’s my guess.

What I would find really sad is if this vote in WI took place and everyone was silent.

I saw video – I believe it may have been on TV? – of him at a post-election campaign rally, it was a large room, and he was headed up to the lecturn* to address the crowd. And I heard that music playing as he walked in, he was strutting to it.

*O/T, a pet peeve of mine. People always say “podium”. Podium is something you stand ON, “pod” comes from the Greek (Latin?) for foot, as in podiatrist. It originated in the days when people had to stand on tree stumps to address crowds. You stand on a podium, you stand behind a lecturn. 👿 (I’m learning my smilies)

As for TM, she must have been crazy, before she outed herself in her craziness, or she wouldn’t have sold out as she did, IMO. She had to be considering the sell-out long before she did it, as she turned on a dime. So, personally, I wouldn’t trust ANYthing she says, pre-sell-out or post-sell-out.

I never considered TM to be “all that” (and to be honest, I didn’t respect her previous occupation), it was her commenters that were the best. So, the good thing about TM, was that when she sold out, her people went out and started new and better blogs. We had more places to congregate, more places for new people to find and identify with PUMAs. So, there. I found something positive about that **(^&^&^*^^&% turncoat lol

What I would find really sad is if this vote in WI took place and everyone was silent.

===============

Me, too. They need to keep it up at least long enough that everyone hears just exactly how Walker did this. I hope the Dems hiding in Ill will do some publicity stunt from Ill to show that they are still there, that the bill was passed in a Pelosi-like manner. So it can’t appear that the Dems just gave up and came home and let it appear like a normal vote.

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/02/if-climate-scientists-push-the-consensus-its-not-for-the-money.ars
[….]
Might the private sector make up for the lack of government money? Pretty unlikely. For starters, it’s tough to identify many companies that have a vested interest in the scientific consensus. Renewable energy companies would seem to be the biggest winners, but they’re still relatively tiny. Neither the largest wind or photovoltaic manufacturers (Vestas and First Solar) appear in the Financial Times’ list of the world’s 500 largest companies. In contrast, there are 16 oil companies in the of the top 100, and they occupy the top two spots. Exxon’s profits in 2010 were nearly enough to buy both Vestas and First Solar, given their market valuations in late February.

So, despite sporadic accusations otherwise, climate researchers are scrambling for a piece of a smaller piece of the government-funded pie, and the resources of the private sector are far, far more likely to go to groups that oppose their conclusions.

They lose by winning

If you were paying careful attention to that last section, you would have noticed something funny: the industry that seems most likely to benefit from taking climate change seriously produces renewable energy products. However, those companies don’t employ any climatologists. They probably have plenty of space for engineers, materials scientists, and maybe a quantum physicist or two, but there’s not much that a photovoltaic company would do with a climatologist. Even by convincing the public of their findings—namely, climate change is real, and could have serious impacts—the scientists are not doing themselves any favors in terms of job security or alternative careers.

But, surely, by convincing the public, or at least the politicians, that there’s something serious here, they ensure their own funding? That’s arguably not true either, and the stimulus package demonstrates that nicely. The US CCSP programs, in total, got a few hundred million dollars from the stimulus. In contrast, the Department of Energy got a few billion. Carbon capture and sequestration alone received $2.4 billion, more than the entire CCSP budget.

The problem is that climatologists are well equipped to identify potential problems, but very poorly equipped to solve them; it would be a bit like expecting an astronomer to know how to destroy a threatening asteroid. The solutions to problems related to climate change are going to come in areas like renewable energy, carbon sequestration, and efficiency measures; that’s where most of the current administration’s efforts have focused. None of these are areas where someone studying the climate is likely to have a whole lot to add. So, when they advocate that the public take them seriously, they’re essentially asking the public to send money to someone else.

To sum up: climate research doesn’t pay well, the amount of money dedicated to it has been shrinking, and if the researchers were successful in convincing the public that climate change was a serious threat, the response would be to give money to someone else.

You must have stayed there at TM longer than I did. I became more infrequent when she first started letting bots in to harass us. Then when the turn was clear, I bolted. So I probably was no longer there to add to the conversation that we saw it happen in a video, and it was some state’s post-election rally, not in someone’s house but in a large building where the bots were waiting all night to hear the election results… and the music came on as BO came out, and Obama was diggin’ it.

This song was played on Iowa primary night when he was walking on to the stage for his celebration (or off the stage after speech) while the whole country was watching on live TV. This was not in some private home. This was on the national stage on one of his biggest nights.

President Obama, speaking at a fundraising event Tuesday in Boston, made light of the “birther” conspiracy debate about whether he was really born in Hawaii.

“I think there’s nothing — there’s no weakness in us trying to reach out and seeing if we can find common ground. Now, there are going to be times where we can’t. I was born in Hawaii, what can I say? I mean, I just…(can’t show you my birth certificate) I can’t change those facts.”

The comment provoked laughter from the Democratic audience. (wink-wink)

President Obama, speaking at a fundraising event Tuesday in Boston, made light of the “birther” conspiracy debate about whether he was really born in Hawaii.

I think there’s nothing — there’s no weakness in us trying to reach out and seeing if we can find common ground. Now, there are going to be times where we can’t. I was born in Hawaii, what can I say? I mean, I just…(can’t show you my birth certificate) I can’t change those facts.

The comment provoked laughter from the Democratic audience.(wink-wink)

Where big media and women’s rights are concerned, it is so fucking easy for the devil to quote scripture, and to deplore the actions of others when they are no different in substance from what those same fucking assholes did to all of us in Denver, and or participated in the cover-up. As you can see, I get more bitter toward these people with every passing day. In a sense it is not a good thing to be bitter. But if it becomes a choice between being bitter or accepting the verdict of the ignorant, bamboozled, clueless herd and Obama’s depraved Chicago surrogates, then I vote for bitter, because bitter can lead to redemption whereas complacency is surrender. Which is a long way of saying fuck them, all of them and the horse they rode in on. I feel much better now, even though I am bitter. When the gas price tops $5 a gallon because of Obama’s lack of a coherent middle east strategy (look for Saudi Arabia to be next, according to toe sucker) and 25% real unemployment, and Weimar inflation rates, then I rather suspect a few more people besides me will find reason to be bitter. But for now, they will tell you I have no time for politics. I am too busy with my life. For now there remain but three good unhung men in England to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare.

think there’s nothing — there’s no weakness in us trying to reach out and seeing if we can find common ground. Now, there are going to be times where we can’t. I was born in Hawaii, what can I say? I mean, I just…(can’t show you my birth certificate) I can’t change those facts.
—————————
Liar. If what you say is true then prove it. Show us the legal document. And then tell us why you posted a phony certificate on your website. And then tell us why you spent nearly $2 million in attorneys fees to fight producing a document which anyone else would produce on request. Maybe to you butt boys this is a joke, but to the average American it is further evidence that you are a fraud. And if you think that is funny, then go ahead and laugh because you are the butt of the joke Obama. And tell us how much you will spend when states pass legislation which requires the candidates in 2012 produce proof of citizenship before they will certify them as candidates. I guess you will find that funny as well. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, you prick.

Jobs returning — but good ones not so much
==============================

When it comes to jobs, it’s not just quantity that matters–it’s also quality. It’s great news that the economy is finally producing jobs again–even if it’ll take another few years of this kind of growth to get us back to where we were before the Great Recession. But that also means it’s now time to ask what kind of jobs are being created. And on that front, things are a lot less encouraging.

Several recent studies suggest that the new jobs pay less and offer fewer work hours than the ones they have replaced. Let’s look at the numbers:

• Lower-wage industries — things like retail and food preparation — accounted for 23 percent of the jobs lost during the recession, but 49 percent of the jobs gained over the last year, a recent study (pdf) by the National Employment Law Program found. Higher-wage industries, by contrast, accounted for 40 percent of the jobs lost, but just 14 percent of the jobs gained. In other words, low paying jobs are increasing as a percentage of total jobs, while high-paying jobs are on the decline.

• Meanwhile, the percentage of those working who have part-time jobs and want full-time ones surged in mid-February to 19.6 percent — almost as high as it was a year ago before the recovery began, according to Gallup numbers. That suggests, of course, that a large number of the new jobs created over the last year are part-time.

• And a recent Wall Street Journal analysis found that even though productivity rose 5.2 percent from mid 2009 to the end of 2010, wages increased by just 0.3 percent. That means only 6 percent of productivity gains were shared with workers. In past recoveries, that figure has averaged 58 percent. This time around, far more of the gains went to shareholders, in the form of profits, which are at record levels.

There are no easy answers for how to fix the problem. Some argue that workers need more clout in their relationship with employers, something that would require a renaissance of private-sector labor unions, which have been on the decline for the last half-century. But that prospect looks unlikely: Indeed efforts are underway in several states to make public-sector unions as weak as their private-sector counterparts.

Still, as the economy continues to add jobs in the coming months, it’s worth keeping the issue of quality in mind. An economy with a glut of low-paying and part-time jobs isn’t an economy that’s working for most Americans.

The WI saga actually gave clarity that all public employee union should be banned. When private unions strike for rights, they only affect their companies, the private companies sink or swim with them. When less than 10% school teachers illegally call in sick, schools are closed that affect all children and parents. When less than 1% of public union protesters disrupting the legislative process, it affects the whole state with more than 5 million voters. These public unions could bring down the whole society. The only thing disappointing about Governor Walker is that he should tell the truth about his intention: That he is busting the public union and don’t hide behind the budget mess. The state should have a referendum about whether to allow public union or not.

The protesters started chanting “Hell no, we won’t go.” What’s next?
****************************
Come on admin, implying that anarchy is going to rein if these protestors aren’t stopped. I also protested in the 70’s and 80’s. These were huge and orderly protests not mobs. I understand where you are coming from: Obama is poison. Obama is destroying the country and he will destroy the democratic party. Obama must be stopped. The unions (some of them) helped get Obama elected. Therefore, the unions must be destroyed.
I can’t buy into the strategy of ‘let’s destroy the country and then let Hillary Clinton pick up the pieces’. Union members are workers, many blue collar workers. These are Hillary’s people. Why destroy them? Destroy the union leadership is a viable strategy, but destroy the unions and you destroy the workers. Overkill, IMO. Who will support HRC if she decides to run in the future, the repubs? No. The one thing this does do is show the repubs for who they are and wake Americans up to their destroy everyone but the corporations agenda. Why saddle HRC with ashes to try to rebuild a country on, unless you know that she will never run for office again.

Concerning Wisconsin, I have maintained from the beginning that this matter was poorly handled by the unions. If they had done what I said, recognized that we are in a deep recession, and positioned themselves as PROBLEM SOLVERS willing to make some concessions just as long as similar concessions were made at the management end–school administrators et. al. I have seen responsible Teamster leaders do this very thing, to protect the vital interests of their members. Instead, they positioned this thing as Armageddon, jury rigged the polls and encouraged everyone to dig in. They lost the public debate before they lost the labor relations battle. And the fleebagging Democrats look hopelessly incompetent. They knew the governor had a larger agenda, but if the union leaders had handled it the way I said, they could have boxed him in. Their strategy was bound to fail, and it did. Why did they do this? Simple. They did it because instead of representing their members they have become an arm of the Democratic Party, but even in that sense their one and only Messiah left them high and dry. Now they will try to put a happy face on this and the cowardly flee baggers will try to sell the idea that in failing to show up for the fight they stood on principle. Now there is a joke everyone can laugh at.

Comments at Uppity Woman about what union school employees are replaced with in California:

socalannie, on March 9, 2011 at 10:44 PM said:
The L.A. Times is (finally) doing an expose on the private contractors that are taking over the unionized employee jobs at the school districts (K-12 & college). What a scam. The taxpayers here are paying up to $300 per hour for these contract workers. Furthermore these highly paid workers usually don’t have the same education or experience requirements and they have been busted repeatedly for not being on the jobs they are supposed to be at. There are finally investigations into all the graft that has been going on in this field. These contractors pay big bribes to get the contracts. One guy in the Times article apparently had a house signed over to him. Its really crooked mafia stuff and the taxpayers are getting hosed. There is no benefit money wise, the only benefit I can see is that the private contract employees are supposed to be easier to fire, although it doesn’t necessarily work out that way. I do think if an employee does a bad job they should be fired, union or not, and I’ve never been a rah-rah union person. But its ridiculous to see these modestly paid govt workers getting blamed for the budget crises everywhere becuz of their benefits. Their wages & benes are turning out to be a pittance compared to the $ that is being funneled into these creepy org. crime contractors. I think the big money entities, Wall St & the banks and the fed are running the dialogue here, blaming workers so that people will forget that their are unfunded pensions becuz Wall St stole that money

socalannie, on March 9, 2011 at 10:47 PM said:
I hope my comment made sense, I’m tired right now. What I’m trying to describe is like what has happened in the military, private contractors take over jobs normally done by our own military at massively inflated prices.

rgb44hrc
March 10th, 2011 at 10:02 am
Even if only a handful of states pass proof-of-citizenship laws, that may be all that’s needed to keep the bum from running the country into the ground for an extra four years.
———————
From your lips to God’s ear. If you cut through all the Ulsterman crap, I think that is the one possibility that worries him most. And if that happens, it is entirely possible that he will suspend the 2012 elections pending a legal determination. And if anyone believes there is anyone in the dimocratic party or big media with big enough cajones to defy him, think again. Won’t happen. In that case, the Supreme Court would be called upon to decide the issue on an expedited basis. The irony here is that with people in the streets demanding that he step down, he will look a little like Mubarack–the man he told to step down, then told to stay, then just shut up. And those evil racist white people say he does not have a middle east strategy? He has hundreds of strategyies and they change every day. The only good news on he horizon is his golf handicap has gone down and he has made some good bets on March Madness, in preparation for November 2012 Madness. Meanwhile, Axelrod and Plouffe plot their evil campaign strategy to give him four more years to utterly destroy this country, and big media cheers his every move. They cannot get enough of him. But I can.

wbboei and rgb, I want all the 08 shenanigans revealed and this guy flying off to Hawii, (it is far enough right?) in the dark of the night.. I don’t want him to benefit in anyway from the four fake years he had in the WH. Maybe AZ’s governor will do it for us — she seems gutsy enough to take him on. I want that fight if not for anything else but to see who he is and where he came from and why has it been kept such a secret. As a citizen I want to know his history.

The article below tells it how it is. The big issue for the unions was automatic dues check off language. The effect of this language is to require everyone in the bargaining unit to pay union dues, whether they want to or not. If you negotiate a first contract with a union, this is the first thing they demand, because it gives them the cash flow they are looking for to support their business, salaries etc. If an employee fails to sign an authorization for union dues to be deducted from his salary, then the boilerplate language requires that he or she be terminated within 72 hours. If an employer is determined to bust the union, then he or she will refuse to agree to that clause. If that was the real issue here, then once again the unions failed to finesse it so it was preserved. Trumpka is a fool. (Note: automatic dues and check off language has no effect in right to work states).

Dues Check-off: The True Issue At Stake In Wisconsin
Posted by Moe Lane (Profile)
Thursday, March 10th at 10:00AM EST

I understand why Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is couching the Left’s tantrum (H/T: Instapundit) over the Wisconsin budget bill in terms of having public sector employees contribute more of their fair share to health care and restricting harmful collective bargaining practices; both sides of the issue are publicly and politely pretending that this were the central issues. Only, they were not. Oh, sure, limiting collective bargaining via statute (which makes it harder to reverse) is a clear and present danger to the ability of organized labor to keep its leadership fat and happy; nobody’s debating that, although some (dumb) people would dispute my depiction of said leadership. But the real problem with the bill for the Democrats is much simpler:

The ending of automatic dues checkoff for public sector unions in Wisconsin.

Mickey Kaus – a Democrat who hates organized labor in a way that I, the son and grandson of good union men, simply cannot – called this provision “arguably the change unions fear the most” – and he’s right, except for the “arguably” part. Simply put, what automatic checkoff does is make it trivially easy for unions to collect dues: the employer (in this case, the state government) simply deducts the money from an union member’s pay and sends it along. No fuss, no muss, no debate… it’s just one more thing that the government takes from your paycheck. This turns the collection of union dues into a guaranteed revenue stream (instead of the colossal pain in the neck that such things usually are); most people don’t even notice, frankly. And it’s from union dues that unions get the money that they use for political advocacy*.

And it’s something that public sector unions will not voluntarily give up. If you look at the way that the situation in Wisconsin resolved, the triggering mechanism was when the Democrats announced that there would be no further negotiations, and the Republicans shrugged and passed the bill in response. Given the concessions actually being offered, this might seem surprising on the Democrats’ part – after all, at this point any concession by Wisconsin Republicans would have met at least moderate hostility from the Right – until you realize that the concessions did not address structural changes on the level of making the unions collect their own [mild expletive deleted] dues, and it’s not the government’s problem if they can’t. The Republicans refused to make any concessions there at all – and when it comes right down to it, they obviously didn’t have to. Which is something that Wisconsin Democrats abruptly learned last night.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*Which is, by the way, mostly being used on the behalf of Democrats, at a ratio far out of sync with how their members vote.

In conjunction with your article above, I posted the following the last thread.

Dumbo lies threw his teeth and none of his lemming bots seem to care.

JanH
March 9th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Too funny…

Mar 09, 2011

Obama: ‘I was born in Hawaii. … I can’t change those facts.’

By David Jackson, USA TODAY

While calling for less fighting between Republicans and Democrats, President Obama also sent a message last night to critics — the so-called birthers — who say he was not born in the United State (and is therefore ineligible for the presidency).

“I was born in Hawaii, what can I say?” Obama told Democratic donors in Boston. “I can’t change those facts.”

Obama spoke as a state senator in New Hampshire proposes a bill that would require candidates in party presidential primaries to provide birth certificates and affidavits swearing they are at least 35 years old and have lived in the United States for 14 years.

As Obama and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $1 million at the event, Obama also trotted out a theme that we’ll likely hear throughout the 2012 presidential campaign.

“We didn’t just rescue the economy we put it on the strongest footing for the future,” Obama said. “And along the way we saved the auto industry and a few other things.”

Obama noted that when he took office, “this country was going through as tough a time economically, as tough a time financially, as any period since the 1930s.” As a result, he said, his administration “had to make a series of quick decisions, and often times unpopular decisions.”

The president also said he has fulfilled 2008 campaign promises to end combat operations in Iraq.

While pledging to cut the budget, Obama said he will not stand for cuts in education and other essential programs.

The United States should not be about the “haves and the have-nots,” Obama said.

“That’s not the America that I envision for (daughters) Malia and Sasha,” Obama said. “And so we’re going to have a lot of work to do.”

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday she would visit Egypt and Tunisia next week, her first trip to those countries since their presidents were deposed after mass protests.

Clinton also told US lawmakers she planned to meet with Libyan opposition leaders during her travels as Washington sought ways to help them topple Libya’s strongman Moamer Kadhafi.

“Next week I will travel to Cairo and Tunis to speak directly with the Egyptian and Tunisian people. I will be meeting with their transitional leaders,” the chief US diplomat said.

“And I intend to convey strong support of the Obama administration and the American people that we wish to be a partner in the important work that lies ahead as they embark on a transition to a genuine democracy,” she said.

“We know how difficult that will be,” Clinton told the House Appropriations Committee, where she sought to defend the US foreign aid budget against planned cuts by Republicans.

Clinton recalled the challenges the former Soviet Union as well as central and eastern Europe faced after communism fell two decades ago, saying most of them “navigated those challenges successfully” but others did not.

“We have an enormous stake in ensuring that Egypt and Tunisia provide models for the kind of democracy that we want to see,” Clinton said.

The secretary said meanwhile the United States is working with the international community to help foil Kadhafi’s attempts to militarily crush a pro-democracy movement in Libya.

“We are standing with the Libyan people as they brave bombs and bullets to demand that Kadhafi must go now without further violence or delay,” Clinton said.

She said US diplomats were working with their counterparts at the United Nations, NATO, the African Union, Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council to “isolate, sanction and pressure Kadhafi to stop the violence against his own people.”

The work is also aimed at sending a “clear message” to Kadhafi aides that “they too will be held accountable if they commit crimes against the Libyan people.

In addition, she said she will be meeting with Libyan opposition figures, both in the United States and when I travel next week, to discuss what more the United States and others can do.

The United States still seems skeptical of a drumbeat of demands for a Libyan no-fly zone, but hints are emerging of a possible last-ditch plan to deter any mass aerial slaughter of civilians.

US officials said Tuesday that Gene Cretz, the US ambassador to Libya who was in Washington before the Libyan uprising erupted last month, had met in Cairo with Kadhafi opponents.

Officials declined to identify Cretz’s interlocutors but said Washington has been in contact with opposition members inside and outside the national council, which is headed by former Libyan justice minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil.

“We are engaging a wide range of leaders, and those who both understand and can potentially influence events in Libya,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters earlier this week.

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton underscored on Thursday the need for international consensus on the next steps on Libya, saying any unilateral U.S. move could have unforeseeable consequences.

Clinton also expressed deep doubts about proposals to set up a “no-fly” zone over Libya, saying previous no-fly zones set up over Iraq and Serbia had had little effect.

Clinton told the House of Representatives appropriations committee that the Obama administration believed it was imperative that other countries agree on the way forward.

“We are working to create an international consensus because we think that is absolutely critical to anything that anybody, especially us, does,” Clinton said, saying there was considerable ambivalence over what should be done.

“Absent international authorization, the United States acting alone would be stepping into a situation whose consequences are unforeseeable,” Clinton said.

Clinton said the United States was focusing on humanitarian relief and building links to Libya’s opposition groups, adding that the State Department had stopped working with Libya’s embassy in Washington, whose ambassador was among the senior diplomats who renounced leader Muammar Gaddafi.

“We are suspending our relationships with the existing Libyan Embassy, so we expect them to end operations as the embassy of Libya,” she said.

Clinton said U.S. planners remained concerned that Gaddafi, who under U.S. pressure agreed in 2003 to abandon his weapons of mass destruction, still had some capacity.

“He still does, as you probably know, have some remaining chemical weapons and some other nasty stuff that we’re concerned about,” Clinton said.
Clinton stressed that the United States was looking at “every option imaginable” for the next steps on Libya, but said a proposed a no-fly zone over the country may not be the best one.

“I want to remind people that we had a no-fly zone over Iraq. It did not prevent Saddam Hussein from slaughtering people on the ground and it did not get him out of office,” Clinton said.

“We had a no-fly zone and then we had 78 days of bombing in Serbia. It did not get Milosevic out of office. It did not get him out of Kosovo until we put troops on the ground with our allies,” she added. “I really want people to understand what we are looking at.”

“I can assure you that the president is not going to make any decision without a great deal of careful thought and deliberation.”

I gotta agree with ya BigCat, it’s one thing to want to change the way campaign donations manipulate our candidates, and union bosses played a role in that, just like the big money bags in corporations, banks and the private sector did/do for Dims and Rethugs.

Scorched earth tactics that hurt the working class I do not agree with. Just like I refused to vote for Meg Whitman, elections do have consequences, as Admin. said…you have to look at the bigger picture.

Shooting myself in the foot to get a Walker clone is not good for my job, nor my peeps, nor my state. It’s a smaller change to vote out a Senator or Rep. of the House, but a Governor has much more power over your state.

Elections do have consequences and WI is starting to see how serious this is, wanting to stop Obama or spending or toss out the Hell Care bill is one thing, burning down your house is another.

It is so disgusting what is happening to workers rights in Wisconsin….I’m glad my mom isn’t here to see this…she and my dad for union rights….These freaking rethugs are going to make sure Obama gets back in….but if enough states make it law that you have to show a BC then maybe we won’t have him….I think I do believe there are more tricks in store for us.

I agree- and if Walker hadn’t been given a tactical way around the vote, most likely from a dodgy Republican; the outcome would have been in the union’s favor.

Good article in your post as well- The shortsighted jump from the frying pan into the fire.
____________________________

JanH
March 10th, 2011 at 12:04 pm

JanH, from your article:

“While pledging to cut the budget, Obama said he will not stand for cuts in education and other essential programs.

The United States should not be about the “haves and the have-nots,” Obama said.

“That’s not the America that I envision for (daughters) Malia and Sasha,” Obama said. “And so we’re going to have a lot of work to do.”
______________________

What I notice about Obama is what he says should not be- i.e. the “haves and have nots” is exactly what he is about. Creating an atmosphere, setting the example himself, associating with friends who earn upwards of seven figures, indulging himself in extraordinary wishes such as flying-in his favorite pizza maker from Chicago for making pizza for a WH Friday night get together. When anyone could just a well have their favorite pizza maker flash freeze pizza and Fed-ex it in overnight and get the same result for their party and friends… Obama wants and needs to be one of the HAVES… and the rest of America, the HAVE-NOTS!
…………………….

“Obama said. “And so we’re going to have a lot of work to do.”

Excuse me? It’s YOU that has to do a lot of work. Have you forgotten, one third of America has NO WORK… and that Mr. Present… is YOUR job?

Even if only a handful of states pass proof-of-citizenship laws, that may be all that’s needed to keep the bum from running the country into the ground for an extra four years.
________________________

And those states should be- Florida, Iowa, Ohio and CA.

_____________________________

rgb44hrc
March 10th, 2011 at 10:06 am

FUNNY JOBS NUMBERS

“Recovery”? What recovery? Unemployment number are eminently fudge-able, and here’s another aspect. “Yeah, I’m finally working again, making one-third what I was making, and with no benefits”.

Mrs. Smith mentioned in the previous thread the lack of new jobs that pay decent wages.
_____________________________

Sorry to hear that- rgb44hrc- Prior to my unintended 3 yr sabbatical, I worked in Finance making a great living and making my Boss very happy. Federal and State Regulations have us attending so many seminars and taking exams, there is hardly enough time for helping clients. I don’t think it’s worth the aggravation.

* The following is a shocking, scary e-mail sent to Wisconsin GOP senators last night at around 9:30 pm, shortly after the Senate passed an anti-union bill. Not only does the e-mail threaten the senators with death, but it also vows “your families [sic] will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks.”

Local station WTMJ in Milwaukee obtained the e-mail, and has redacted the sender’s name pending an investigation by the police (emphasis added and spelling and grammar mistakes have not been corrected):

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes
will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain
to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it
will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit
that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for
more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.

WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in
the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me
have decided that we’ve had enough. We feel that you and the people that
support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing
with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand
for it any longer. So, this is how it’s going to happen: I as well as many
others know where you and your family live, it’s a matter of public records.
We have all planned to assault you by arriving at your house and putting a
nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn’t leave
it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the
message to you since you are so “high” on Koch and have decided that you are
now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a
demorcratic process. So we have also built several bombs that we have placed
in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent.
This includes, your house, your car, the state capitol, and well I won’t
tell you all of them because that’s just no fun. Since we know that you are
not smart enough to figure out why this is happening to you we have decided
to make it perfectly clear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it’s
necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making
them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families
and themselves then We Will “get rid of” (in which I mean kill) you. Please
understand that this does not include the heroic Rep. Senator that risked
everything to go aganist what you and your goonies wanted him to do. We feel
that it’s worth our lives to do this, because we would be saving the lives
of 300,000 people. Please make your peace with God as soon as possible and
say goodbye to your loved ones we will not wait any longer. YOU WILL DIE!!!!

I gotta agree with ya BigCat [….]
Elections do have consequences and WI is starting to see how serious this is, wanting to stop Obama or spending or toss out the Hell Care bill is one thing, burning down your house is another.

Well I guess this governor doesn’t have to worry about running for office again…the corporations will make sure he stays in….the congress and senate no longer work for the people they work for the corporations.

THE BLAZE: ‘YOU WILL DIE!!!!’:
Read the Shocking E-Mail Sent to Wis. GOP Senators

==============

I expect the writer is under 13, probably under 12. Intelligent and well-educated (for that age) or with a good grammar checker and a lot of patience.

Probably intended more as a joke/hoax than as real intimidation.

The style is educated, grammar complex, spelling not bad — then it dips into ‘bathos’, ie childish expressions. As well as the lack of judgement shown by sending out something like this. If the writer really wanted to kill people, he wouldn’t put them on guard. If it were seriously intended to intimidate, he’d realize it would look bad for his faction. And an adult would know he’d get in trouble if it’s easy to trace.

This individual anarchist is trying to hijack the protest just like Ayers did to the Viet Nam protests. If this letter is real, then the Rethugs will try to make it the face of all the people in the protest.

It will be like Barry and his thugs playing the race card, over and over.

Thought I was talking about Obama, eh? The article below is about Putin, but the parallels are obvious in how each one feels that their own real life is inadequate. So the media is given dog-and-pony shows so they can “report” on how wonderful the Leader is. And if you turn on the tv, he’s constantly popping up everywhere: ESPN, The Cooking Channel, Sesame St., Myth Busters (“in today’s episode, we’ll find out where Obama REALLY was born, so we’ll have to travel to several continents”).

With Obama, we’ve had the media help him build Obama’s imaginary resume: brilliant legistlator, constitutional scholar, health nut who quit smoking, “I was born in Hawaii”, pro-union, pro-woman, etc. But look beneath the surface, and we find another case of “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain” (Wizard of Oz).

So for fun, I’ll take a couple of excerpts from the article below and put in blanks. Enjoy:

“The letter was politically charged because it seemed to draw back the curtain, if only a little, on the carefully stage-managed public appearances of Mr. ______ on state television, often built around ostensibly official tasks.”

“News on state television is generally awash in reports of Mr. ____’s activities.”

“There was confusion about whether the event raised money and, if it did, whether any money was distributed.”

Here’s the whole article, and includes a few James Bond-like photos of Mr. Putin, International Man of Action.

Turn on Russian television and one is bound to see images of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin skiing, riding a horse or flying a plane. He has also been shown shooting a tiger with a tranquilizer dart and chasing whales in a dinghy while wielding a crossbow. It is all part of a well-honed tough-guy image.

But in December, viewers saw his softer side. Mr. Putin, though not previously known to be musically gifted, sang a sweetly rendered version of “Blueberry Hill” in English, accompanied by a live jazz band. He also played a grand piano.

The occasion was billed as a charity event for hospitals treating children with cancer. But three months later, the mother of a 13-year-old girl with cancer who believed her daughter would benefit from the event is saying that no money ever made its way to the hospitals.

The mother, Olga Kuznetsova, sent an open letter to the authorities and the news media on March 3, causing a stir in Russia — and not only for the suggestion of possible fraud at a charity, serious though that would be.

The letter was politically charged because it seemed to draw back the curtain, if only a little, on the carefully stage-managed public appearances of Mr. Putin on state television, often built around ostensibly official tasks.

While stopping short of directly blaming Mr. Putin for the lack of financing for the pediatric oncology wards, the letter suggested that the concert’s primary purpose was to showcase the prime minister’s singing talents rather than aid children with cancer. The authorities have denied this was the case.

News on state television is generally awash in reports of Mr. Putin’s activities. Last summer, for example, the news showed the prime minister co-piloting a firefighting airplane, though he is not a pilot. Mr. Putin’s whale chasing was said to aid scientific research by obtaining tissue for a biopsy.

In her letter, Ms. Kuznetsova wrote that three months after the charity concert where Mr. Putin sang, called “Believe in a Dream” — also attended by Hollywood stars including Sharon Stone and Kevin Costner — nothing had changed in the cancer ward of St. Petersburg City Hospital No. 31, where her daughter is receiving treatment.

“I know people are ready to do a lot for their own gain,” she wrote, without clarifying whether she was referring to the prime minister or the charity itself. “But really, are they willing to do it with the help of sick children?”

There was confusion about whether the event raised money and, if it did, whether any money was distributed.

Kommersant, a Russian business newspaper, reported Wednesday that the charity was founded only a few days before the concert on Dec. 10, long after the event was planned.

Vladimir V. Kiselyov, the director of the charity, called Federation, said in an interview with Dozhd television this week that the concert was intended to draw attention to the cause of treating children with cancer, not to raise money. Nevertheless, each guest was given an envelope, he said, and any donations were later distributed to specific children.

An assistant for Mr. Putin’s press spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said Mr. Peskov was out of the office on Wednesday and would not be available to comment. Mr. Peskov told gazeta.ru, an online newspaper, that the concert had raised money for pediatric oncology wards that had not yet been distributed. It takes time to buy the medical equipment, he said.

Mr. Peskov said that, in any case, Mr. Putin was not affiliated with the charity. “Putin did his part, he attended the event,” and performed with the understanding that the proceeds would go to charity.

As President Obama prepares for his re-election bid, his approval rating among independent voters – a bloc whose support will be crucial in 2012 – has dropped, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released today.

The poll found that only 37 percent of independents approve of the work Obama has been doing in office, which is a sharp drop from his previous mark of 47 percent. Obama’s overall job approval rating sits at 49 percent.

Already looking ahead to the campaign, Obama has visited both Florida and Massachusetts in the last week to begin fundraising efforts and shape his message. He has particularly emphasized the need for compromise in Washington, rhetoric that tends to strike a chord with independents.

“There are going to be times where we’ve got to try to find common ground to solve problems,” Obama told the crowd at a Boston fundraiser Tuesday. “Not everything is a fight. Not everything has to be a battle to the death.”

Obama and his party have much work to do to win back independent voters who signaled their discontent with the Democratic agenda last November. Exit polls showed independent voters in 2010 supported Republicans over Democrats by a whopping 56-37 margin, which helped fuel the GOP’s 63-seat gain and takeover of the House of Representatives.

In another red flag for Obama’s re-election chances, the poll also found that 64 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. This lack of confidence was a two-year low for Ipsos polls dating back to January 2009, when Obama first took office.

France became the first country to formally recognize the Libyan opposition – the Interim Transitional National Council – as legitimate representatives of the Libyan people on Thursday, pledging to exchange ambassadors with the country’s newly created transitional council in a major diplomatic victory for the Libyan opposition.

The announcement followed a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and two representatives of Libya’s Interim Transitional National Council in Paris Thursday

Speaking to reporters at the Elysée presidential palace in Paris, Ali al Issawi, a former Libyan ambassador to India who quit his post last month, announced that, “France recognises the National Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

*
No-fly zones: The devil lies in the details
LIBYA
No-fly zones: The devil lies in the details

“There will be an exchange of ambassadors between Paris and Benghazi,” he added, referring to the eastern Libyan city that has emerged as a rebel stronghold over the past few weeks.

The recognition comes as European Union foreign ministers meet in Brussels Thursday and defense ministers of NATO’s 28 member states also gathered in the Belgian capital to consider the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya.

Ahead of the Brussels meeting, AFP reported that Sarkozy would propose “targeted airstrikes” in Libya as a way to end the violence.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The trade deficit widened much more than expected in January as surging imports of oil, capital goods and cars overpowered record exports in a signal of strengthening domestic demand.

The trade gap grew by 15.1 percent to $46.3 billion from $40.3 billion in December, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. Analysts had expected a deficit of $41.5 billion.

The shortfall in trade with China, a sore point in bilateral relations, grew 12.5 percent to $23.3 billion.

With more domestic demand being sated by overseas production, some economists said they would likely reduce their forecasts for first-quarter U.S. economic growth by about a half percentage point to around a 3 percent annual rate.

Anthony Chan, chief economist for private wealth management at JPMorgan in New York said that pace would be “barely enough” to make headway in reducing unemployment. “We obviously would make a lot more progress at 3.5 percent,” he said.

A second report from the Labor Department showed new claims for jobless benefits rose 26,000 last week to 397,000. While economists had looked for a smaller gain, they said the increase was not enough to suggest the labor market recovery was running off the rails.

The rise in claims, an unexpected swing to a trade deficit in China announced by Beijing and a ratings agency downgrade of Spain pushed U.S. stocks lower, while Treasury debt prices rose. The dollar rose against the euro and the yen.

Oil prices shot up in January as economic recovery in the United States and the rest of the world picked up steam, and jumped significantly more last month on political turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East. On Thursday, benchmark Brent crude was trading around $114 a barrel.

A related surge in U.S. gasoline prices has helped undermine public confidence in the way the country is going, posing a fresh challenge to President Barack Obama. A Reuters/IPSOS poll on Wednesday showed 64 percent of those surveyed believe the country was on the wrong track, up seven points from February.

Reports on Friday are expected to show gasoline prices helped lift U.S. retail sales by 1 percent in February, while pulling down consumer sentiment this month.

The Fed’s policy-setting panel is likely to nod to higher commodity prices in a statement after a meeting on Tuesday, but analysts feel officials will not see a grave enough threat to either growth or inflation to alter policy.

NOT JUST OIL

Increased non-oil imports in January also played a big role in the wider trade gap.

“To the extent that this surge reflects the strength of domestic demand, particularly restocking, it isn’t necessarily a disaster,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist with Capital Economics in Toronto.

“Nevertheless, it is a concern, particularly when we know that the latest surge in the cost of imported oil will drive the deficit above $50 billion over the next few months,” he added.

Imports totaled $214.1 billion in January, as oil prices rose to their highest level since October 2008 and imports of capital goods and foods, feeds and beverages set records.

U.S. auto imports were the highest since February 2008.

Exports grew 2.7 percent to a record $167.7 billion.

Obama has set a goal of doubling exports to more than $3 trillion by the end of 2014 to put the U.S. economy on more stable footing.

JPMorgan’s Chan said that goal will be difficult to meet without a “a major collapse in the dollar.”

Republicans in Congress are threatening to block action on a free trade agreement with South Korea expected to increase U.S. exports by at least $10 billion to $11 billion annually, unless Obama also sends two other long-delayed pacts with Colombia and Panama to Congress for approval.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce claims that 380,000 jobs are at risk if Congress does not pass the pacts.

The increase in the trade gap with China in January spurred fresh calls for Washington to get tough with Beijing.

The Obama administration has pressed China to let its currency rise more rapidly in value and take other steps to reduce its dependence on exports to fuel economic growth.

At the same time, U.S. officials have said the United States needs to move away from an economy based on consumer demand to one driven more by domestic production and exports.

Despite a commitment on both sides to rebalance growth, the U.S. trade deficit with China widened again in January after growing to a record $273 billion in 2010.

Separately, China said its trade surplus with the United States shrank to $8 billion in February from $13.6 billion in January, but that report was distorted by the Lunar New Year holiday.

Turn on Russian television and one is bound to see images of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin skiing, riding a horse or flying a plane. He has also been shown shooting a tiger with a tranquilizer dart and chasing whales in a dinghy while wielding a crossbow. It is all part of a well-honed tough-guy image.

Mrs. S.
nevertheless, the effect will be the same no matter the sender or the motivation behind the threat.

——
First, folks have to find out if the threat is real. There was a report out last night that the windows of the Capital building had been broken by protesters, it was later reported that that info. was not true.

A couple of stray nuts does not discredit a protest. The media on both side will spin it no matter what.

Diane Von Furstenberg announced the four winners of the second annual DVF Awards last week, but a fifth recipient was added today: Hillary Clinton will be bestowed with the very first Inspiration Award during the ceremony at the United Nations tomorrow. The prize money comes from the Diller-Von Furstenberg Family Foundation, which Von Furstenberg co-founded with her husband, Barry Diller, to contribute to women’s causes.

Came here to link the same.. Libya, what Lybia (that is how the WH spelled it)..
it is raining here in DC today, so no golf but he is ready to prey upon the young and the gullible with his bulling prevention conference.

Did anyone see Bill Richardson on Fox a minute ago….suggesting we put a “no fly” zone over Libya…of coarse 15 minutes before that they played a video of Hillary saying a “no fly” zone won’t help….hmmmm, hmmmm. Obama cannot be trusted and neither can Fox!

Mrs. S.
nevertheless, the effect will be the same no matter the sender or the motivation behind the threat.

——
First, folks have to find out if the threat is real.

=================

If the writer turns out to be a bright kid (as I suspect) then I hope his parents will be good enough to let him be photographed and interviewed — to make it real clear to the public that this WAS a kid’s prank, not an adult.

Putin having all these photos of his machoness…well I read somewhere he has a young mistress….guess he’s following in Sarcozy’s footsteps. Putin is disgusting….I personally like men with hair on their chests. Not too much, just a little!

pm317: Came here to link the same..
————–
Glad you also felt it worthy. The pic in your link has MO appearing rather unfortunate, or should we say bored, or her feet hurt. If you’re inclined, look at the pic accompanying the myfox link: both Obamas have losing expressions on their faces.

Putin having all these photos of his machoness…well I read somewhere he has a young mistress
————————-
Perhaps the John Edwards of Russia. I well remember John’s tight jeans as he began his 2008 presidential campaign down in Louisiana or somewhere with someone like Matt Lauer. The jeans were screaming a message but I did not get it then.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that she would meet with Libyan rebel leaders in the United States and during travels next week to France, Tunisia and Egypt.

Mrs. Clinton did not identify the Libyan rebel leaders she intended to meet.

American officials have reached out to members of the rebels’ provisional council in eastern Libya, directly and through intermediaries, but Mrs. Clinton’s meetings will be the administration’s highest-level contacts with those who hope to replace the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

“We are standing with the Libyan people as they brave bombs and bullets to demand that Qaddafi must go — now,” Mrs. Clinton said in remarks to a House panel.

She spoke hours after France became the first country to recognize the Libyan opposition, calling itself the Libyan National Council, even as forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi pounded rebellious forces in Zawiyah and Ras Lanuf, cities the rebels seized after the uprising began.

On Thursday, President Nicolas Sarkozy met with two representatives of the new provisional council, Mahmoud Jibril and Ali al-Esawi.

Foreign ministers of the Group of Eight nations are meeting in Paris on Monday and Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton said that while she was in Tunisia and Egypt, she would press for democratic changes there. It will be her first trip to the Middle East since a wave of popular uprisings began reshaping the Arab world, complicating American diplomacy. The United States once counted on the stability of autocratic rulers to maintain regional security, though their continued rule often came at the expense of democratic and economic development.

When the first OPEC oil shock hit the U.S. in 1973, President Nixon encouraged Americans as a voluntary gas-saving measure to drive 55 mph on the interstate. Not long after, the infamous “double nickel” became mandatory as Congress made states choose between adopting the lower speed limit and losing millions in federal aid. For two decades, most Americans voted with their gas pedals and flagrantly ignored the federal speed limit. It had become the least respected law since Prohibition by the time President Clinton repealed it in December 1995.
Now, as we learn more about Obamacare, the odds are good that it will ultimately rank right down there with Prohibition and the double nickel in public esteem. First, there is the matter of those 1,040 waivers issued by President Obama’s secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius. The waivers allow corporations, health insurance providers, nonprofits and unions to cap how much they spend on individual health insurance policyholders in a year. Obamacare makes it illegal for providers to impose such caps after 2014. The common justification among those seeking the waivers is that they cannot afford Obamacare’s removal of coverage caps. Why should anybody continue to believe Obama’s endlessly repeated claim that Obamacare will reduce health costs as long as his HHS chief issues hundreds of such waivers?

Then there is the parade of unpleasant surprises like this week’s discovery of $105 billion secretly tucked away in the law by its authors to fund implementation of Obamacare. Former Oklahoma Rep. Ernest Istook discovered the stash and wrote about it on a Heritage Foundation blog, then Reps. Steve King, R-Iowa, and Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., took up the issue by demanding that Congress rescind that money. “People say, ‘Well, what’s wrong with you members of Congress, why didn’t you know it’s there?’ It’s because we didn’t get the bill until literally a couple of hours before we were supposed to vote on it, and it’s 2,900 pages long,” Bachmann told Fox News. “We’re doing everything we can to alert people and to say to Congress, give the money back.” No law can command public respect if its authors felt compelled to hide billions of dollars for its implementation.

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson got it right by staying his ruling that the law was unconstitutional and directing the Justice Department to request an expedited appeal by Thursday. “The battle lines have been drawn, the relevant case law marshaled, and the legal arguments refined,” Vinson wrote in his opinion. He’s right, Obamacare should go before the nation’s highest tribunal, and the sooner that happens, the better it will be for everybody concerned.

Say what you want about Putin, but he’s no shrinking violet like Obama.

Putin knows karate, and as former KGB, he knows 1,000 ways to poison someone.
______________________

I’ll take Putin anyday rather than the drug induced couple photographed championing anti-bullying to a slew of kids looking for advise. MO with the droopy eyelids and frozen facial expression looks as if she in on some type of an anti-psychotic and the husband nursing a hangover, looks as if he hasn’t gotten over his big ears and childhood abandonment issues.

All I can say is she had better have them meet her on her plane and get the heck out of there as fast as she can and drop them off in another country… maybe, Israel. She is extremely vulnerable to an assassination right now..

the Michigan Senate approved legislation that threatens to take over and even dissolve local governments that refuse to balance their budgets by breaking labor contracts.

According to the law, which has already been approved in the House, the governor will be able to declare “financial emergency” in towns or school districts and appoint someone to fire local elected officials, break contracts, seize and sell assets, and eliminate services.

Under the law whole cities or school districts could be eliminated without any public participation or oversight, and amendments designed to provide minimal safeguards and public involvement were voted down.

Under the law whole cities or school districts could be eliminated without any public participation or oversight, and amendments designed to provide minimal safeguards and public involvement were voted down.

——
Well, I guess that is the benefit of electing a Republican’s…their rule supersedes every rule of law they don’t like – all under the pretense of ‘balancing’ the budget.

So much for Democracy, now we can have our own states run by Dictators.

I never thought Republican’s could be so stupid before a Presidential election. Way to go, hurt voters and make sure Barry gets reelected.

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
The struggle in Wisconsin, and those to come, must shape a politics that is independent of the uniparty, the Democratic section of which is headed by Barack Obama. Significantly, “students and other protesters don’t want Obama to intervene in the fight with Gov. Walker because of the president’s cuts in Pell Grants and a whole range of social supports.” It becomes clearer by the day that “Obama-ism, rather than providing the new Democratic dispensation that delusional progressives and masses of Blacks imagined, is a straight-line path to defeat.”

Skimpy health insurance policies are likely culprit in continuing problem; findings indicate national reform law won’t stop bankruptcies
From Physician for a National Health Program –
The percentage of personal bankruptcies linked to medical bills or illness changed little, and the absolute number actually increased in Massachusetts after the implementation of its landmark 2006 law requiring people to buy health insurance, a Harvard study says.

[….]
“Health costs in the state have risen sharply since reform was enacted. Even before the changes in health care laws, most medical bankruptcies in Massachusetts – as in other states – afflicted middle-class families with health insurance. High premium costs and gaps in coverage – co-payments, deductibles and uncovered services – often left insured families liable for substantial out-of-pocket costs. None of that changed. For example, under Massachusetts’ reform, the least expensive individual coverage available to a 56-year-old Bostonian carries a premium of $5,616, a deductible of $2,000, and covers only 80 percent of the next $15,000 in costs for covered services.”

Here is an ah ha moment for you. The default position of the left, once they find out that middle America does not buy their hair brained schemes is then you must die. The reason this is material is because when the population feels sufficiently threatened by the radical left, it turns to right wing demagogues. It is the same the world over. Those who learn nothing from history are doomed to repeat it.
————————————————–
Posted by LaborUnionReport (Profile)
Thursday, March 10th at 1:30PM EST
39 Comments
Because you believe in freedom and fiscal responsibility, you’ve been told that you are racist hate-monger. Because you rallied and held Gadsen Flags, you’ve been called astroturf. You were blamed for a shooting by an anarchist madman. As you’ve watched in horror as your country has been consumed by collectivist unions and crony capitalists, you’ve been accused of advocating slavery and hypocritically excoriated for rhetoric.

For all of their false accusations, there is nothing, nothing that compares to this [via Drudge]:

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.

WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me have decided that we’ve had enough. We feel that you and the people that support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand for it any longer. So, this is how it’s going to happen: I as well as many others know where you and your family live, it’s a matter of public records. We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn’t leave it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the message to you since you are so “high” on Koch and have decided that you are now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a demorcratic process. So we have also built several bombs that we have placed in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent. This includes, your house, your car, the state capitol, and well I won’t tell you all of them because that’s just no fun. Since we know that you are not smart enough to figure out why this is happening to you we have decided to make it perfectly clear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it’s necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families and themselves then We Will “get rid of” (in which I mean kill) you. Please understand that this does not include the heroic Rep. Senator that risked everything to go aganist what you and your goonies wanted him to do. We feel that it’s worth our lives to do this, because we would be saving the lives of 300,000 people. Please make your peace with God as soon as possible and say goodbye to your loved ones we will not wait any longer. YOU WILL DIE!!!! [Emphasis added.]

Where is the Left’s condemnations? Where is the President and his “we thrive together” campaign? Where is Secretary Napolitano and her fight against domestic terrorism?

Irish America Hall of Fame: President William Clinton
Politician, peacemaker, and hero to millions of Irish.

By Niall O’Dowd
March 10, 2011

As a major supporter of the Irish peace process, Bill Clinton moved mountains. The 42nd President of the United States took the strongest position on Irish issues ever taken by an American president. In 1994, he granted a visa to Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, fulfilling a campaign promise and stating “the U.S. cannot miss this rare opportunity for our country to participate in the peace process.”

Then in November, 1995, President Clinton became the first sitting American president to visit Northern Ireland.

I was there and wrote the following account of the occasion:

Belfast: November 30, 1995: It was an evening that dreams were made of, a crystal clear Belfast night, the winter air crackling with anticipation. On the soundstage adjacent to City Hall, Van Morrison was blasting out his “There’ll Be Days Like This,” the unofficial anthem of the peace process. A huge and enthusiastic crowd, later numbered at 100,000, was rocking along to the music.

All day long the people of Belfast had streamed to this spot, mainly from Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods abutting the downtown area. They had filed through thenarrow downtown canyons under the shadow of the tall buildings bedecked with American flags before collecting in their tens of thousands in the areas surrounding City Hall. As far as the eye could see, back up through the shopping malls, down the narrow sidestreets and along the pedestrian areas, the crowds had gathered.

Even Van Morrison was not holding their undivided attention. Every ten minutes or so a chant would pass through the crowd like a ripple. “We want Bill. We want Bill.”
The rumor had spread that he would play the sax with Van the Man, so every stranger arriving on stage was closely scrutinized. Several times the rumor ran that he was about to make his appearance, and the full-throated roars of the crowd were stilled only when it proved to be another false alarm.

On such a clear night every sound seemed magnified. The tolling of nearby church bells swelled in the evening air. The chants of the crowd carried like a relentless drumbeat, the strains of Van Morrison seemed to carry back even to the furthest regions of the crowd, who were cheering and stomping and waving plastic American flags thoughtfully supplied by the advance team. We all knew we were witnessing something special.

When the long-winded Lord Mayor of Belfast, Eric Smyth, threatened to go on forever during the introduction, he was drowned out with chants of “We want Bill.” Quickly the mayor skipped to the end of his speech.

A few moments later the President and First Lady finally arrived at the podium. It had been a long day for him; his aides stated later that he was feeling tired and jet-lagged. But the crowd lifted him, their extraordinary welcome lasting several minutes. A New York Times reporter later wrote that Clinton had that “suffused look of ecstasy” that politicians acquire before adoring crowds.

Clinton had earned the huge reception. As he had done throughout the day, he appealed over the heads of the politicians to the people themselves.

“The people want peace and the people will have peace,” he pronounced, pounding the podium for emphasis. The people promptly went wild.

I was sitting near a Protestant community worker from the Shankill Road. She had a careworn face, like so many in Belfast, old beyond her 40 or so years, the impact of far too much worry and stress.

“We’ve had so little to celebrate in the past 25 years,” she told me. “When someone like the American President comes and shows he cares about us it means so much to all of us.” Her eyes seemed ready to tear up.

She told me that she and her husband had been to Dublin for the first time ever a few weeks before to see Riverdance, the Celtic dance spectacular. “It was brilliant,” she said, “and we’re going back soon again. We’d never ever have thought of going during the Troubles.”

In front of her, a few seats to the left, sat Joe Cahill, a revered Republican figure who was once spared the hangman’s noose only by a last-second reprieve. Cahill’s journey to America on the eve of the IRA ceasefire had been a critical step in ensuring its success. Only he, it was reasoned, could convince Irish American hardliners that the new peace was worth a try.

“Did you think we’d see days like this?” I asked Cahill, paraphrasing the song.

“No, not like this,” he answered. “This has been a real high point for all of us. It is marvelous, really special, to see the President here.”

The sentiments they expressed from both sides of the divide were echoed everywhere throughout the two-day trip. The groundswell for peace and the evident goodwill for Clinton – who had, after all, taken risks for peace no American President ever had – was clear. Now he had come to their own beleaguered land, a place where during the Troubles some commentators had derided those who lived there as subhuman.

But they, like everyone else, just needed the acknowledgement that they are no better or worse than citizens in New York, Washington or London.

Everywhere President Clinton went in Ireland was a triumphal progress. From the huge crowds in Belfast, Derry and Dublin to the intimate moments such as those with Nobel Prize-winner Seamus Heaney at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Dublin, the President had the perfect pitch, understanding just where the line between American interference and positive involvement lay.

Upon assuming power in January 1993, President Clinton had set about building a new “special relationship” with Ireland, which in several important instances had eclipsed the historical tie with Britain when the two have come into conflict.

“No president has ever invested his prestige and his concern for the people of Ireland and for the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the way Bill Clinton has,” Bruce Morrison, the former Connecticut congressman, a key player in the peace process, said.

The New York Times called the Clinton visit “the best two days of his presidency.” The President himself was clearly ecstatic that he had struck such a chord with a country weary of war and desperate for peace. Clinton had made the Irish peace process his own. Indeed, without him it is unlikely it would have happened at all.

We can take no less an authority than the IRA for that. In a secret IRA memo revealed in the Sunday Tribune newspaper in Ireland on April 23, 1995 the reasons for the IRA ceasefire of August 31, 1994 were detailed. Among the three key reasons given was the support of President Clinton for the new peace process.

Once the peace process began, Clinton threw the full weight of the White House behind it. When the process was lagging, his White House Economic Conference on Ireland in May of 1995 provided an important boost. Clinton became the first ever U.S. president to deliver a major speech on Irish issues when he addressed over 1,500 delegates.

Held at the Sheraton Hotel in Washington over a three-day period, the conference was the first time that any American President has committed his administration to that kind of direct economic and political involvement in the affairs of Ireland since the dawn of the American republic. The future was there in that conference. A future for Northern Ireland that promised peace instead of bloodshed. “The good that he has done here will last long after him in Ireland,” Donald Keough, president emeritus of Coca-Cola, predicted.

In March, 1996, President Clinton, whose ancestors the Cassidys are believed to have emigrated from Ballycassidy, County Fermanagh, was Irish America’s Irish-American of the Year. We are delighted to induct him into our 2011 Irish America Hall of Fame.

WASHINGTON — A plan aimed at establishing a no-fly zone over Libya will be presented March 15 to NATO, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday.

“We are continuing to plan for the full range of possible options including a no-fly zone,” Clinton told a press conference, declining however to indicate who would present the plan on Tuesday.

US civilian and military officials have been debating with their allied counterparts the idea of a creating zone in which NATO warplanes would ground Colonel Moamer Kadhafi’s air power to prevent him from attacking his own people.

“I know how concerned people are, I share that concern,” Clinton said.

“But we have a lot of experience in this kind of circumstance, from Iraq, the Balkans and elsewhere, and we know how challenging it is to do any of the things that a lot of people are calling for.”

She was referring to no-fly zones imposed over Serbia and Iraq in the 1990s.

The top US diplomat has stressed that any decision to impose a no-fly zone over Libya should be taken by the United Nations and not the United States.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization appeared divided meanwhile on the usefulness of such a measure as well as the idea — attributed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy — to launch air strikes in Libya.

The organization decided to reinforce its naval presence in an area near Libya, and evaluate the humanitarian aid the United Nations could request.

The transatlantic alliance has already increased its airborne radar surveillance of the central sector of the Mediterranean.

Once upon a time, Smokey The Bear warned us that only you can prevent forest fires. Now Obama, Smokey The Bore warns us only you (white racists) can prevent bullying. Big media is ecstatic, hums the verses of How Great Thou Art and steers clear of vulgar questions like hey bro why waste your time on this crap while the country and the world are falling apart? Are you really as clueless as you look, etc.
—————————————————————————————–
Only You Can Prevent Bullying
By Larry Johnson

I had to check my calendar today after seeing the video of Barack Obama weighing in on the problem of school bullying. My first thought, “Is this a Saturday Night Live bit?” I thought it was a goof. At a time when the price of oil is soaring towards $200 dollars a barrel and the people of Libya have risen en masse against Muammar Qaddafi, this guy is talking about school bullies.

Don’t get me wrong–school bullying is a bad thing–but we’re talking about the guy who is supposed to be the leader of the free world and he is majoring in the minors.

Check it out:

But maybe Barack has hit on the key thing we ought to do to get Qaddafi.

Let’s get a group of kids in wheelchairs and parachute them into Tripoli, Libya. Assuming that Qaddafi will be eager to kick some US ass, albeit in the person of a bunch of kids in wheel chairs, PRESTO CHANGO, we got us a bully and maybe Barack will finally decide to get off of his lazy ass and do something.

When the Soviets dropped the Iron Curtain over Eastern Europe President Harry Truman did not sit around worrying about what other countries would think. He acted. Using a mix of covert, overt and diplomatic moves, including the greatest humanitarian effort of the 20th Century, the Marshall Plan, he moved to protect people and protect America’s interests.

Barack? Completely clueless. Barack thinks he is acting to preserve peace. Instead, he is sowing the seeds of war and economic chaos.

“US civilian and military officials have been debating with their allied counterparts the idea of a creating zone in which NATO warplanes would ground Colonel Moamer Kadhafi’s air power to prevent him from attacking his own people.

“I know how concerned people are, I share that concern,” Clinton said.

But we have a lot of experience in this kind of circumstance, from Iraq, the Balkans and elsewhere, and we know how challenging it is to do any of the things that a lot of people are calling for.”

She was referring to no-fly zones imposed over Serbia and Iraq in the 1990s.

The top US diplomat has stressed that any decision to impose a no-fly zone over Libya should be taken by the United Nations and not the United States.”
______________________________

Anyone thats paying attention is aware Obama is still “present” biding his time hoping while Hillary is out there saving the world she screws-up giving mass media the opportunity to run all over her… (at his behest) after all, shouldn’t she be concerned with womanly things like baking cookies, working on children’s obesity, planning her next vacation, looking into the possibility of a Supreme Court appointment, ironing Bill’s shirt?

“I can assure you that the president is not going to make any decision without a great deal of careful thought and deliberation.”
—————————-
Translation: The (Clueless) One had better not do his usual why can’t we all just get along number and then go golfing. Nor can he let Jarrett decide inasmuch as Jarret is about as ignorant of foreign policy as it gets outside the zoo. Mr Banana Peel had better slow down, focus in and listen the the people who know what they are talking about–Hillary and Gates, rather than his inner circle of advisors who tell him only what he wants to hear. Getting it right here has significant ramifications throughout the region. As my Persian friend pointed out, the leadership of Iran is watching the Libyan situation to see whether brutal tactics can succeed in repressing such rebellions. Thus far they have put two leaders of the opposition under house arrest, and have now moved them to a prison. There was little protest over this so they have now gone to the next step which is to arrest secondary leaders of the opposition. They smell fear in Obama and proceed with relative impunity. They are turning up the heat on their own people, but watching what happens in Libya. Meanwhile Obama fills his schedule with March Madness, lecturing school children on bullying, and triming strokes from his golf handicap.

The Republican Leadership is completely inept. Here you find an acknowledgment of that some of us said about their tax deal with Bambi–a botched job if there ever was one. People like Hatch and McConnell need to go. They have got one ball the size of a pellet and the other is invisible. Well, here we go again.
———————————
Lame Duck II

Posted by Michael Hammond (Profile)
Thursday, March 10th at 9:03PM EST
12 Comments
From the diaries by Erick

A lot can happen between now and November, 2012. But let me make a prediction: The next month will either set Barack Obama on a “glide path” toward electoral victory -– or a glide path toward electoral defeat.

The Obama-generated narrative is that the next 30 days will be spent trying to come up with a “magic number” (between $10 billion and $61 billion) of Obama-approved spending cuts which are acceptable to both Republicans and the White House. Among other things, this negotiated plan would fund ObamaCare.

If this narrative unfolds the way Obama is planning, it will create a political dynamic comparable to the GOP’s botched handling of the lame duck session:

In less than three weeks in December, Barack Obama was transformed from a has-been to a 2012
frontrunner.
Obama paid off restive Democrat constituencies: same-sex couples, foreign policy doves, environmentalists, unions, and New York’s two recently reelected liberal senators.
Obama was perceived as a leader who had embraced both bipartisanship and tax cuts.
Similarly, Obama is on the precipice of becoming a hero to every group facing cuts under the House’s long-term funding bill –- while appearing bipartisan and becoming a champion of spending cuts.

If this happens, Republicans can forget about any more spending cuts which are not paid for with tax increases. And they can clench their teeth and prepare for the electoral disaster which 2012 will bring.

But let me suggest this:

At the very least, conservative Republicans should insist that every short- and long-term funding bill defund ObamaCare. This would include the Rehberg amendment to defund current fiscal year ObamaCare expenditures, the two King amendments to defund pre-approved spending, and the Emerson amendment to defund IRS resources to enforce tax increases and mandates.

If 87 House freshmen were willing to insist on this and oppose any rule which precluded them -– and if a single senator were willing to force votes on these issues and object to “unanimous consent agreements” which precluded them -– the Republican leadership would be forced to do the right thing.

Given HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s confession of double-counting $500 billion of Medicare “cuts,” the money saved by this single cut would go a long way toward achieving Republican budgetary goals -– and it would do this with a cut which the American people firmly support.

(Parenthetically, you remember how the $500 billion in ObamaCare Medicare cuts were expected to effectively drive Medicare Advantage out of the market? And you remember Obama’s pronouncements that that would be a good thing? And you remember Sebelius’s end-run efforts to keep Medicare Advantage on life support until Obama could get past the 2012 elections (at which point the program would be allowed to go out of existence)? Well, now Sebelius is arguing that, by defunding ObamaCare, you would somehow hurt the Medicare Advantage program which ObamaCare attempts to drive out of existence. What that means is this: Sebelius is now terminally delusional.)

So the bottom line is this: Let Barack Obama shut down the government for the sole reason of preserving ObamaCare’s bureaucracy and mandates. Does anyone think that’s a battle which the GOP would not win?

At the very least, conservative Republicans should insist that every short- and long-term funding bill defund ObamaCare. This would include the Rehberg amendment to defund current fiscal year ObamaCare expenditures, the two King amendments to defund pre-approved spending, and the Emerson amendment to defund IRS resources to enforce tax increases and mandates.

If 87 House freshmen were willing to insist on this and oppose any rule which precluded them -– and if a single senator were willing to force votes on these issues and object to “unanimous consent agreements” which precluded them -– the Republican leadership would be forced to do the right thing.
———————-
Thank God for DeMint. He will not flinch. The rest of the Republican seators (except for Marco) are for sale. They are not even a credible opposition party–believe me.

Congressman Al Green, Texas Democrat, found himself in a heated debate with Republican members on the Homeland Security Committee on Thursday over whether or not the Ku Klux Klan should be considered a terrorist organization. Rep. Peter King, New York Republican and chairman of the committee said, “There is no equivalency of threat between al Qaeda and Neo-Nazis, environmental extremists, and other isolated madmen.” Peter King continued, “Indeed, by the Justice Department’s own record, not one terror-related case in the last two years involved neo-Nazis, environmental extremists, or anti-war groups.”

Congressman Dan Lundgren, California Republican, followed up on the issue saying: “I would say to those who criticize us for a singular focus here that I have been on panels that have investigated the continuing presence of Nazi war criminals in the United States,” Lungren explained. “I’ve been there where we’ve examined the Ku Klux Klan…and skinhead groups and militias.”

I caught up with Mr. Green following the close of Thursday’s terror hearing and asked him about Attorney General Eric Holder’s remarks about 126 terror indictments where the majority of the indictments were jihad related. In a USA Today op-ed piece written by Congressman King, the lawmaker from New York notes:

Attorney General Eric Holder has said that radicalization of Americans is something that keeps him awake at night. As he noted, 126 people have been indicted on terrorist-related charges in the past two years, including 50 U.S. citizens. The great majority of those charged are violent jihadists.

Apparently, the Texas Congressman did not appreciate my question about the terror indictments: (LISTEN HERE)

KP: It’s been reported that of all the 126 terror indictments all of have been Muslim. Do you think that should be considered in this particular hearing?

REP. Al GREEN:I think that all criminals should be prosecuted. I think that all terrorists should be investigated which is why I said we ought to investigate all of them and that would include the KKK. Over a hundred years of terrorism why not investigate them too. They are rooted in a religion as well. Check their website out. You’ll see.

KP: Congressman King said they haven’t caused as many problems and…

REP. GREEN:Well ask the men who have been castrated whether they caused a problem. Ask the men who were lynched whether they caused a problem.

KP:When did that happen recently, sir?

REP. GREEN: Does it have to happen recently, and they are still existing for us to investigate them?

If you never had to live with a cross burning, you don’t appreciate what a cross burning can do in terms of terrorizing people. My suspicion is, based on what you’re saying to me, that I should say to you, I hope you won’t defend the KKK.

KP: I don’t have any plans to, sir.

REP. GREEN: I hope you won’t defend the KKK.

KP: But I’m just…

REP. GREEN: I hope you won’t defend the KKK.

REP. GREEN: I hope you won’t defend the KKK.

KP: But I’m just curious…

REP. GREEN: I hope you are not going to defend the KKK.

KP: Of course not, sir.

REP. GREEN: Be as curious as you like, but do not defend the KKK.

KP: Of Course not sir. But are they still causing terror right now?

REP. GREEN: Do not defend the KKK.

REP. GREEN: Do not defend the KKK.

REP. GREEN: You’re newspaper is going to defend the KKK tomorrow, I see.

KP: Um no…but sir…

Congressman Allen West, Florida Republican and fellow Congressional Black Caucus member to Mr. Green, took issue with Rep. Green’s remarks about the terror issue and the KKK. (LISTEN HERE)

“You’re not defending the KKK,” said Mr. West, a retired Army Colonel and Iraq War veteran. “I grew up in Georgia and I remember the days of the Klan–the lighting the cross on Stone Mountain. Those days are done, but what I think a lot of people need to understand is that two weeks ago we had a Saudi gentleman out of Texas Tech–Lubbock, Texas, that was caught planning a terrorist attack to include President Bush’s home.

“We just had the bombing threat during Christmas in Portland, Oregon, I believe. We had the underwear bomber. We had Major Nidal Hassan. We had Alawi who is now public enemy number one over in Yemen who was right here in Northern Virgninia. We’ve got a serious problem here with home grown terrorism that we have to deal with,” Mr. West said.

“We have to have this intellectual open debate and anyone not wanting to have it or are being recalcitrant about it, I just ask them to look across the Atlantic Ocean to London and the rest of Europe and see what is happening, because they were not willing to have this open debate and the next thing you know, they have a situation which has become an epidemic.”

Congressman West, no stranger to easily fending off accusations of bigotry towards Muslims believes that encompassing the KKK into the terrorism debate “is terrible.”

“I think bringing the KKK into all of this is terrible. It’s horrible, and that shows an unwillingness to really deal with this situation. It’s once again this comparative means by which people try to make the moral relativist argument instead of dealing with the issue,” he explained. “I even heard in that hearing someone was talking about, ‘Why don’t we bring Christians up as well?’ This is not what it’s about.”

Japan has just declared a nuclear emergency: Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant cooling system has failed after massive 8.9 quake, thats all they need, not good news. If that goes……………..i dont wanna think about it.

just watching some footage of the tsunami roaring inland and seeing cars and bikes travelling up the roads totally oblivious to the wall of water rushing towards them, its hard to watch, knowing thse people are probably dead right now.

The West Coast is preparing for a direct hit from Japan’s tsunami between 9:00am-9:30am est. Crescent City, CA is the first city predicted by experts to feel the effects of the tsunami making landfall. San Francisco next @10:00am and LA @10:30. These are approximate times +- listed by the alert.
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Bill Clinton Backs No-Fly Zone in Libya

March 11, 2011 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. should support a no-fly zone over Libya to help under equipped insurgents fighting to topple well-armed and well-paid troops loyal to dictator Muammar Qaddafi, former U.S. president Bill Clinton said.

“They are not asking for ground troops, they don’t want us to get in the fight,” Clinton said of the insurgents at a conference in New York yesterday on the status of women. “Nobody wants to see an arms race in Libya, but it’s not a fair fight.”

Clinton, who is married to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, said he was “sympathetic” to the Obama administration’s desire not to enforce a no-fly zone alone. Clinton noted that similar efforts had worked in the past, both in Bosnia and Iraq during his own presidency.

The U.S. is spending $110 billion a year to fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Clinton said, and should be able to contribute to enforcing an air blockade over Libya.

“If the leaders are on television pleading for it, I think that we should do it,” Clinton said of the Libyan insurgents. He said the U.S. should say to the Libyan people, “If you want any assistance we will give it to you, and if you want us to stay home we will.”
___________________

Thank you Bill. At least someone cares about people fighting for their freedom and willing to help if they ask for it.

Our president is some where off in the distance reliving childhood memories of being bullied or so he says… You never know with him. He seems to be expert at directing bullies to voters choosing opposing candidates at the polls.

(CNN) — The threat of a tsunami prompted the U.S. National Weather Service to issue a warning for at least 50 countries and territories after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan Friday.

The wide-ranging list includes Russia and Indonesia, Central American countries like Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica and the U.S. state of Hawaii. The weather service’s bulletin is intended “as advice to government agencies.”

The quake, which struck near the coast of Honshu, Japan on Friday afternoon, unleashed a wall of water that rushed in toward land, leveling houses and bashing cars in its path.

Some officials feared that the fast-moving waves from a tsunami could be so high that they wash over entire islands in the Pacific, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Friday.

“Experts are saying that it could be anywhere from 4 to 10 meters. That’s higher than some of the Pacific islands are above sea level. We just have to do the calculations to see that this is a real threat,” federation spokesman Paul Connally said.

“In a situation like this, we have to prepare for the worst case scenario,” he added.

But Gerard Fryer of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said even though waves could cause significant flooding, “washing over islands is not going to happen.”

Tsunami waves can travel at speeds of 800 kilometers per hour.

“The tsunami is more than one wave, and the waves can be separated by 20 minutes or half an hour. So just because you see a wave come up and then go back in the ocean again, that doesn’t mean it’s over,” Fryer said.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center early Friday issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas along the United States and Canadian west coasts. The tsunami warning includes coastal areas of California and Oregon from Point Conception to the Oregon-Washington border. It also includes coastal areas of Alaska from Amchitka Pass to Attu.

“This is a massive one, and it will have different effects depending on the location, on the seabed, and on other sorts of characteristics. But clearly this is very very large, and from that perspective, all countries need to be alert, on standby for the moment.”

Wendy Watson-Wright of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization warned nations to be on alert.

“This is a massive one, and it will have different effects depending on the location, on the seabed, and on other sorts of characteristics,” she said.

In the Philippines, the government has evacuated 20 coast areas. Officials said they were getting reports from Isabela province of “unusual waves” hitting the coastline.

The administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency said employees are ready to assist state and local officials.

“We remind everyone who lives in the region to monitor their local news for instructions from their state and local officials and if told to evacuate — evacuate,” said Administrator Craig Fugate.

Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said more than 11,000 people living in dangerous areas had been evacuated after a tsunami warning was issued for the Kuril Islands. Ships docked in open ports were heading back out to sea to avoid being hit by tsunami waves, the ministry said.

Chip McCreary of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said officials estimated the quake was already causing waves with magnitudes of up to 2 meters above normal sea level.

“This is a very large earthquake. We’ve evaluated it as about the same size as the earthquake last year in Chile. However, it’s much closer to the Hawaiian islands than the Chile earthquake,” he said.

Numerous Pacific islands, including some U.S. territories, are also on the list.

Friday’s 8.9-magnitude temblor in Japan was the largest earthquake since a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Banda Aceh area of Indonesia on Dec. 26, 2004, causing a massive tsunami that killed about 250,000 people in 14 countries and washed away entire communities. The tsunami caused nearly $10 billion in damage and more casualties than any other tsunami in history, according to the United Nations.

The earthquake, initially reported as a 7.8 earthquake, was upgraded to an 8.9 quake.

“When you jump a magnitude from 7 to 8, it’s not 10 times stronger, it’s 1000 times stronger,” said CNN International meteorologist Ivan Cabrera. “With an … earthquake that shallow, that close to shore, there will be more than one tsunami.”

Breaking on nbc- wave action for HI relatively low for first set of waves hitting the beaches. Taking a cautious approach waiting for subsequent waves but are relieved the first assault resulting in no damage.. TG

Mohammed Nabil Taha, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy, died this week at the entrance to a Lebanese hospital after doctors refused to help him because his family could not afford to pay for medical treatment.

The tragic case of Taha highlights the plight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who live in impoverished refugee camps in Lebanon and who are the victims of an Apartheid system that denies them access to work, education and medical care.

Ironically, the boy’s death at the entrance to the hospital coincided with Israel Apartheid Week, a festival of hatred and incitement organized by anti-Israel activists on university campuses in the US, Canada and other countries.

It is highly unlikely that the folks behind the festival have heard about the case of Taha. Judging from past experiences, it is also highly unlikely that they would publicize the case after they heard about it.

Why should anyone care about a Palestinian boy who is denied medical treatment by an Arab hospital? This is a story that does not have an anti-Israel angle to it.

Can anyone imagine what would have happened if an Israeli hospital had abandoned a boy to die in its parking lot because his father did not have $1,500 to pay for his treatment?

The UN Security Council would hold an emergency session and Israel would be strongly condemned and held responsible for the death of the boy.

All this is happening at a time when tens of thousands of Palestinian patients continue to benefit from treatments in Israeli hospitals.

Last year alone, some 180,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip entered Israel to receive medical treatment. Many were treated despite the fact that they did not have enough money to cover the bill. In Israel, even a suicide bomber who is — only! — wounded while trying to kill Jews is entitled to the finest medical treatment. And there have been many instances where Palestinians who were injured in attacks on Israel later ended up in some of Israel’s best hospitals.

Lebanon, by the way, is not the only Arab country that officially applies Apartheid laws against Palestinians, denying them the right to receive proper medical treatment and own property.

Just last week it was announced that a medical center in Jordan has decided to stop treating Palestinian cancer patients because the Palestinian Authority has failed to pay its debts to the center.

Other Arab countries have also been giving the Palestinians a very hard time when it comes to receiving medical treatment.

It is disgraceful that while Israel admits Palestinian patients to its hospitals, Arab hospitals are denying them medical treatment for various reasons, including money. But then one is reminded that Arab dictators do not care about their own people, so why should they pay attention to an 11-year-old boy who is dying at the entrance to a hospital because his father was not carrying $1,500?

But as the death took place in an Arab country – and as the victim is an Arab – why should anyone care about him? Where is the outcry against Arab Apartheid?

(Reuters) – The United States has transported coolant to a Japanese nuclear plant affected by a massive earthquake and will continue to assist Japan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday.

“We just had our Air Force assets in Japan transport some really important coolant to one of the nuclear plants,” Clinton said at a meeting of the President’s Export Council.

“You know Japan is very reliant on nuclear power and they have very high engineering standards but one of their plants came under a lot of stress with the earthquake and didn’t have enough coolant,” Clinton said.

For all of you that thought Meg Whitman was the best choice in CA, but don’t actually live here, I think this article points out that Brown is trying to work with Rethugs and while not selling out the working class.

Gov. Jerry Brown has a scenario for what happens if Republicans refuse to place his tax proposal extension (this isn’t a new tax, just an extension on what was passed by the Terminator and approved by the voters), on a June ballot: California becomes Armageddon.

[snip]

Events will unfold like this, he predicts without hesitation, if the Legislature fails to muster the required two-thirds majority vote — including at least two Republicans in each house — to place a measure on the ballot to extend temporary income, vehicle and sales tax rates for five years:

“I put up an all-cuts budget” — a spending plan that closes the $26.5-billion deficit entirely with program cuts.

Democrats already have all but agreed to $12.6 billion in cuts and want to match that with $12 billion in taxes. Another $3 billion would come from internal borrowing, leaving a $1-billion surplus.

“Then the Democrats change [the all-cuts budget] and put in gimmicks. Then I veto it. Then everybody sits there until we run out of money. It’s not going to be a pretty sight. It’s like one-two: No tax, all cuts, gimmicky budget, veto, paralysis.”

Then political interests and ideologues launch an all-out war of ballot initiatives, he forecasts.

“There’ll be initiatives on taxing wine and beer and oil companies,” he says, “and a split roll” — taxing commercial real estate higher than residential. “And Republicans will counterattack” with anti-union measures and efforts to undermine the public sector.

“There’ll be an unleashing of left and right forces. Everyone will come out fighting. California will become a battleground…. It’ll be a war of all against all. The loser will be the people of California.”

Brown’s not always right, but he does have a record of being prophetic. He was preaching about an “era of limits” 35 years ago when nobody wanted to listen. He was dubbed Gov. Moonbeam for proposing that California possess its own communications satellite. Imagine such a thing!

I hate to say this but how do we spell apocalypse….whew! things are getting bad around the world…geez and they are having earthquakes a few hundred miles from where I live….it’s all this gas removal…they better get an FDR President in there soon or we won’t have an earth to worry about!

In Obama’s press conference he was asked by a Japanese reporter about his personal feelings about the disaster in Japan (pretty telling question), then the reporter asked a scond question unrelated to the disaster. Obama quicly said ‘Let me take the second question first’. After a lengthy answer to the 2nd question, he said he was heartbroken about the disaster, but with the Japanese skill in technology he was confident they would be able to rebuild.

Call me slow but I think he took time to be fed his answer to his personal reaction to the tragedy by his staff. It was an odd answer and odd how it played out. I will be watching future press conferences more closely to see if the stories about feeding answers to our glorious leaders by microphone in ear or texting them to the podium are true.

Shadowfax,
My new male friend (boyfriend, hard to say at my age) is a mudlogger, he says the sink holes and some of these small quakes are caused by sucking out our natural resources….so it kind of makes you think!

Makes sense Confloyd, if there is a huge pocket of oil below the surface, it is sucked out, what ever was above it, land mass or ocean, it will be pushed down by (weight) pressure, and cause a cave in or collapse of the ocean floor.

turndownobama
March 11th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
You mean it was something like this?

? : Mr President, an earthquake hit Japan at 4 am. Any comments?

Obama: What Hillary said. Now, about gasoline….
&&&&&&&&&&

Meanwhile, on her plane to the next destination, Sec. of State Clinton is on the ball: “You know, I just happen to have handy my “Black Book of Situational Analyses”, something that I’ve been compiling since around 1990. Why right, here, Chapter 23, “Pacific Rim Tectonic Plate Movements and Tsunami Modelling”, it has the calculations, we enter 8.9 in the Richter field, and the epicenter location, and we see what the affected areas should be and the range of wave heights. Then we cross reference that with the phone tree of alerting mentioned in Chapter 8’s International Comminques. So that’s what I’d do.”

Here’s another article for Meg lovers about how Brown is trying to persuade Rethugs in CA:

Gov. Jerry Brown pitches his budget plan on Republican turf

[snip]

To persuade them to support his proposal for closing California’s $25-billion budget gap, he has been bar-hopping with lawmakers, crashing private dinners and even braving a karaoke party (leaving the singing to the legislative branch). If lawmakers balk, fiscal crisis could continue to paralyze the Capitol.

So Brown showed up at an annual Republican duck feast at an old Capitol haunt last month, turning heads as he and his wife, Anne, took seats at the head of a long table. They ordered wine and stayed for the better part of three hours.

“God, he can talk to you about any subject on the planet, from religion to water,” said Assemblyman Bill Berryhill (R-Ceres), one of the organizers. “Whether I agree or disagree with his policy, I respect his style.”

….Meanwhile, on her plane to the next destination, Sec. of State Clinton is on the ball: “You know, I just happen to have handy my “Black Book of Situational Analyses”, something that I’ve been compiling since around 1990.

“God, he can talk to you about any subject on the planet, from religion to water,” said Assemblyman Bill Berryhill (R-Ceres), one of the organizers. “Whether I agree or disagree with his policy, I respect his style.”
**********************
Can you imagine, a politician that actually understands some things. Wow, far out!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Statement on Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

I join President Obama in offering our sincere condolences for the loss of life and damage caused by the earthquake and tsunamis in Japan. We are closely monitoring the tsunamis that may impact other parts the world, including Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States.

The U.S. Government has offered immediate disaster relief assistance, and we are working closely with the Government of Japan to provide additional help. Our consular officers in Japan and in the United States are working to gather information and assist U.S. citizens in Japan who may have been affected by the earthquake.

The United States is an unwavering friend and ally of Japan, and we are committed to helping Japan respond and recover. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan during this difficult time.

This is a tragedy and my thoughts and prayers are with those experiencing this ongoing natural disaster.

….Meanwhile, on her plane to the next destination, Sec. of State Clinton is on the ball: “You know, I just happen to have handy my “Black Book of Situational Analyses”, something that I’ve been compiling since around 1990.

turndownobama
March 11th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
You mean it was something like this?

? : Mr President, an earthquake hit Japan at 4 am. Any comments?

Obama: What Hillary said. Now, about gasoline….
&&&&&&&&&&

Meanwhile, on her plane to the next destination, Sec. of State Clinton is on the ball: “You know, I just happen to have handy my “Black Book of Situational Analyses”, something that I’ve been compiling since around 1990. Why right, here, Chapter 23, “Pacific Rim Tectonic Plate Movements and Tsunami Modelling”, it has the calculations, we enter 8.9 in the Richter field, and the epicenter location, and we see what the affected areas should be and the range of wave heights. Then we cross reference that with the phone tree of alerting mentioned in Chapter 8’s International Comminques. So that’s what I’d do.”

================

Then she takes the curlers out of her hair and wipes off the cold cream.